Exodus 23:32

23:32 “You must make no covenant with them or with their gods.

Exodus 31:16

31:16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

Exodus 34:12

34:12 Be careful not to make ¹  a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it become a snare ²  among you.

Exodus 34:15

34:15 Be careful ³  not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when ⁴  they prostitute themselves ⁵  to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, ⁶  you will eat from his sacrifice;

Exodus 34:27

34:27 The Lord said to Moses, “Write down ⁷  these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

Exodus 34:10

34:10 He said, “See, I am going to make ⁸  a covenant before all your people. I will do wonders such as have not been done ⁹  in all the earth, nor in any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you. ¹⁰ 

[34:12]  ¹ tn The exact expression is “take heed to yourself lest you make.” It is the second use of this verb in the duties, now in the Niphal stem. To take heed to yourself means to watch yourself, be sure not to do something. Here, if they failed to do this, they would end up making entangling treaties.

[34:12]  ² sn A snare would be a trap, an allurement to ruin. See Exod 23:33.

[34:15]  ¹ tn The sentence begins simply “lest you make a covenant”; it is undoubtedly a continuation of the imperative introduced earlier, and so that is supplied here.

[34:15]  ² tn The verb is a perfect with a vav consecutive. In the literal form of the sentence, this clause tells what might happen if the people made a covenant with the inhabitants of the land: “Take heed…lest you make a covenant…and then they prostitute themselves…and sacrifice…and invite…and you eat.” The sequence lays out an entire scenario.

[34:15]  ³ tn The verb זָנָה (zanah) means “to play the prostitute; to commit whoredom; to be a harlot” or something similar. It is used here and elsewhere in the Bible for departing from pure religion and engaging in pagan religion. The use of the word in this figurative sense is fitting, because the relationship between God and his people is pictured as a marriage, and to be unfaithful to it was a sin. This is also why God is described as a “jealous” or “impassioned” God. The figure may not be merely a metaphorical use, but perhaps a metonymy, since there actually was sexual immorality at the Canaanite altars and poles.

[34:15]  ⁴ tn There is no subject for the verb. It could be rendered “and one invites you,” or it could be made a passive.

[34:27]  ¹ tn Once again the preposition with the suffix follows the imperative, adding some emphasis to the subject of the verb.

[34:10]  ¹ tn Here again is a use of the futur instans participle; the deictic particle plus the pronoun precedes the participle, showing what is about to happen.

[34:10]  ² tn The verb here is בָּרָא (bara’, “to create”). The choice of this verb is to stress that these wonders would be supernaturally performed, for the verb is used only with God as the subject.

[34:10]  ³ sn The idea is that God will be doing awesome things in dealing with them, i.e., to fulfill his program.